Express yourself

[collage description found at 2:24]
background info: when I make my collages, I like replacing lookouts with different things in a surrealist kind of way. I might take a picture of the ocean and replace the water with something that shouldn’t be there like flowers or soup; but the sand and shore remain next to it. I wanted to include a taste of this, so I used a mirror, but replaced the original reflection with suzy from the film moonrise kingdom. I never was a reader, but instead spent my time watching movies. I started this film journal this past march to keep track of some of my favorite films, and the details behind their inception. I love picking apart films to unearth some symbolic deeper meaning. elements like color and music can make us feel without having to explicitly say things. my look, my calm vibe—I tried to have that shine through my collage with the background colors and patterns. if you really knew me, you’d understand how “me” the look of this page is.
ready to wear and thrift rack: I used to hate shopping for clothes. I’d only go in stores where I could walk around like I was running the mile around a track. but now? I could spend hours searching through miles of racks. my favorite place to go in los angeles is st. vincent de paul thrift store. I can’t even attempt to describe how large the warehouse is. I could spend hours thrift shopping and I love using it as alone time. every item is so unique and has its own story. but now, it’s all mine—stashed away in my closet for the perfect niche occasion. thrifted clothes have history and their own personalities. getting to incorporate their uniqueness in my own style is one of my favorite ways to express myself. especially as someone who doesn’t always know how to verbally express my emotions, I let my style talk.
my dog: I of course had to include a photo of my sweet dog Cisco. my mom got him my junior year of high school (I think to replace her only daughter who would soon be going away to college). everyone says their dog is the best, but mine really is. my favorite thing about him is when he does something wrong, he hides and looks down at the floor, just like he knows what he did was wrong and he’s anticipating a time out or something. It’s adorable.
girl scout: near the bottom, I have a Girl Scout holding a couple boxes of cookies. I remember the nights, I’d have to put on a white-colored shirt, sash, and khaki pants (skinny jeans of course because teenage me wouldn’t dare wear anything else) to go stand out and sell cookies. I’d beg people to buy boxes. the faster they sold, the sooner I could go home. although I didn’t love selling cookies, there was so much more to scouting that truly made me stick with it. as we got older, girls from our troop would drop out. by the time we were in high school, troop 3553 had four members—all some of my closest friends who ended up at different schools. we used troop meetings to socialize and catch up, talking about how much homework we had or what a cute boy said to us in class. our camping trips turned to potlucks, and it worked for us. we got to stay close, with people we otherwise might have drifted away from.
frog: I have a growing list on my phone of things that make me happy. when I get stressed or in my head, I like to look at the list to remind myself of all the little things that I tend to forget when things get hard. my most recent addition to the list applies to the frog in my collage. one of my roommates decided last tuesday afternoon to go to the pet store and buy a frog. we went and ended up buying this huge terrarium, and of course, ended up buying two so the first one didn’t get lonely. the whole day we were cracking frog jokes and marveling about how cute our new amphibian friends were. it’s such a little thing in the grand scheme of things, but the memory has such a large impact. life is a lot like this piece; seemingly irrelevant photos pasted together in a collage that holds so much sentiment.